


day 5: giving hope

by orphan_account



Series: the twelve days of shipmas (giving edition) [5]
Category: UNIQ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Defendant!Wenhan, Lawyer!Yixuan, M/M, Mentions of Sexual Harassment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-17
Updated: 2016-12-17
Packaged: 2018-09-09 06:05:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8878810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: hope is the most precious commodity in the world. yixuan has dedicated his life to preserving it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> twelve days of shipmas challenge for u-n-i-fics.tumblr.com
> 
> full prompt list on my tumblr

“the scarf used to strangle him belonged to you?”

the man across from him swallows loudly, adam’s apple bobbing in his throat. his eyes are downcast, hair greasy and bags prominent. yixuan supposes that two weeks in holding would do that to you.

“yeah. looks pretty bad, huh?”

the defendant, li wenhan age twenty two, looks a whole world away from the cheerful man in the photos wenhan’s younger brother yibo had shown him. a quick scroll through his weibo had yielded even more information apart from more visuals of the man flashing a peace sign and grinning luminously than was entirely healthy. he loved his acoustic guitar, walked dogs as a part-time job and adored his mother. it seemed he was a proud NBA nerd too with every second post mentioning familiar names or showing off his memorabilia. it must have been life-changing when he was scouted for the national team - only to have his elation shattered in the news of his arrest when the scout had been found murdered under the bleachers of the court where they had been talking. to go from elation to despair in 72 hours must have taken a toll on him.

“and you were the only two in the gym at the time?” yixuan prods gently, trying to plaster the biggest reassuring smile he can on his face. it was in the most dire of times that lawyers had to force their biggest smiles and if this situation didn’t call for a massive grin, nothing else would.

“that i saw, yeah.” wenhan confesses, face twisting in regret and another emotion that yixuan can’t quite place, “we were on court four past opening hours and he wanted to see me shoot more hoops. no one else could’ve gotten in after eleven.”

“what about someone staying behind though?” yixuan suggests, drumming his fingers on his jean-clad thigh. he has the urge to stroke his attorney’s badge on his suit lapel to calm his nerves but he doesn’t want to seem too nervous and risk letting wenhan doubt in him, “after everyone was meant to have left.”

“there are cameras everywhere,” wenhan shakes his head and pushes back his limp hair with a trembly hand, “they caught everyone going out the door except for us two. the guys - my teammates - went to a bar together after the game and the audience all left too.”

“alright,” yixuan hums and notes that down. he’ll have to go bother someone on the investigative team for a copy of the security footage later, perhaps detective kim would sympathise, “could you run through what happened in your own words once more for me?”

“i was playing in a friendly match with my team against our rival club at seven,” wenhan fidgets, mind clearly elsewhere as he rattles off the account he’s been pressed for several times already, “the game finished around nine forty-five and the scout in the audience wanted to see me after the game.” he picks at his nails and pauses, taking a deep breath, “everyone had left by ten and they’d left the lights on in court four for us. we finished around eleven thirty and i went to go change and grab my stuff from my locker. when i came back to the court, he wasn’t there anymore so i left to go home. the rest of it,” he barks in laughter but it’s a bit sad, a sound worn at the edges by exhaustion, “you know. i was arrested at nine am the next day when they discovered the body and yeah,” the handcuffs around his wrists clink softly, “that’s all."

“what did you do with the scout, wang ming, in that hour and a half together?”

“oh just y’know,” an uncomfortable chuckle leaves his lips, “some layups and hoops. i’m not that tall so he wanted to see how high i could jump and stuff.”

yixuan stares at wenhan thoughtfully, a little trepidation creeping in. the way wenhan’s voice had shook when he’d glossed over what had happened with the victim and the way he’d hunched in on himself even more meant there was more to this than wenhan was willing to say.

“wenhan, look at me.”

the defendant raises his head wearily, brown eyes glimmering dully in the florescence. he looks tired to the bone and yixuan feels a rush of strength and indignation run through him at the sight of him on the verge of giving up, “i’m going to need you to trust me if we want to win your case. i’m your lawyer and despite what the police think, i believe in you and your innocence.”

“you do?”

“i do. i’ll find the truth in court and win for the both of us,” he nods surely and hopes that he seems confident and poised. it seems wenhan is starting to gain confidence in him, nodding along and it seems a little more life has been breathed into him, “to get to the truth though,” this is a gamble but there’s something more he _knows_ wenhan isn’t saying, “i need you to be honest with me.”

“i have been honest!”

yixuan folds his arms and waits.

wenhan gnaws at his bottom lip and slumps in his chair, jaw set hard, “he... he touched me, okay? after i did all the drills, he was,” he looks like he’s going to be sick and yixuan can feel the bile rising in his own chest, “feeling me up. smacking my ass and rubbing my arms and asking me how much i wanted a spot on the national team.” he cringes but doesn’t mince his words, “i should have left as soon as he started flirting with me - he made it pretty clear he didn’t pick me out just because of my skills - but,” he shrugs helplessly, “basketball is my life. maybe i was too optimistic.”

“don’t say that,” yixuan’s voice is sharp and he’s covering wenhan’s hand with one of his own before he knows it. he retracts just as quickly, apologising profusely for the sudden contact because really yixuan, he just admitted to being molested, way to go for appropriateness, “he was a dick and a fuckhead, being dead doesn’t excuse that. it does provide us with more leads though - if he did this with other people, there could be a wider pool of suspects than we know about.” he wipes off his sweaty palms on his jeans, “thank you for being honest with me. that takes courage and you’ll need that in court.”

“yeah,” wenhan shoots him a tight-lipped smile. on the outside, he still looks beaten down but yixuan can sense that something’s changed about him. he looks a little fiercer, a little more optimistic, a little more hopeful, “thanks for taking my case - yibo told me a lot of other lawyers turned me down. i was nearly thinking of giving up.”

“well i’m glad he found me,” yixuan stands up as the guard comes back into the room to escort wenhan back into holding, “and i’m glad you trust in me. just hold out until the court date - i’ll fight for you, i promise!”

a beaming smile crosses wenhan’s face as yixuan realises how weird that may have sounded and nearly trips himself to backpedal over his words, lighting up the room. for a moment he looks closer to the photos that yibo had showed him in his office and it makes yixuan’s heart ache. he looks young again, full of devilish innocence.

“i’ll leave this in your capable hands then.” he says as he’s led away, “let’s both do our best.”

yixuan finally gives in to temptation and runs his thumb over his attorney’s badge, shuffling out of the room and then out of the station. he has favours to call in, an investigation to make and his client’s future on the line. what had seemed like a hopeless case is now offering some threads of salvation, slim as they may be and he’s determined to grasp on to them tight.

he steps on the gas and makes a bluetooth call as he steers towards the basketball centre. sungjoo picks up on the sixth ring.

"detective kim, at your service."

“hey sungjoo, i need a favour...”


End file.
